Children

"Children" is a term used to refer to the 14 year old pilots of the Evangelions. The term is used even for a single pilot, hence Shinji Ikari is the "Third Children". The original Japanse dub of the series intentionally used "children" plural, and it is not a translation error. However, the official English dub by ADV films changed this to "Child" (i.e. "Third Child"), as they felt it sounded unnatural in English.

The Children are:

• Rei Ayanami - First Children
• Asuka Langley Soryu - Second Children
• Shinji Ikari - Third Children
• Toji Suzuhara - Fourth Children
• Kaworu Nagisa - Fifth Children

The numbering system is based on the order in which the Eva pilots were selected. Asuka enjoys taunting Shinji by referring to him as the "Third Children", pointing out that she is the "Second Children", as if being selected before Shinji somehow quantifiably makes her superior to him.

Notes

• According to an FAQ from the Eva Mailing List, the term "Children" is used for the pilots so Nerv can hide the fact that Rei--despite being the "First Children"--has clones, which makes her several Children instead of one.

• The term "Children" is also used for the final Tel-op in Episode 26 ("And to all the Children, congratulations!"), giving the term a more universal feel instead of just referring to the Eva pilots.